Wine aerators, preservers and futures are high on the list for festive wine connoisseurs this holiday season. Whether you’re looking for great corporate gifts, hostess gifts or something for your dearly beloved, these high-tech and wow-factor tokens will wow even the most discerning wine aficionado.

Wine Aerators

For the perfect glass of wine, your vino needs to breathe. Red wines sometimes need to develop for up to four hours in a decanter before they are properly mellowed to drink – with all the bottles you’ll be opening this season, a wine aerator is a great, timesaving gadget that will improve the taste and body of all your favorite vintages.

The Wine lovers who are looking for funky as well as functional should look for a series of wine aerators that come in great festive ruby and emerald jewel tones that would compliment your holiday bar. They can also adjust from a single glass to full bottle setting, to ensure that just the right amount of air is passed through your wine on the way to the glass or carafe.

Bottle Sealers

Both vacuum pumps and preserving sprays prevent air from further affecting an opened bottle of wine, slowing down the aeration process, allowing a single bottle to be recorked or capped and enjoyed in more than one sitting.

Vacuum pumps suck the air out of the bottle, while preserving sprays fill the bottle with an inert gas that sits on top of the wine, keeping the lighter air and oxygen from contacting the liquid. Both are effective, useful and appreciated by wine enthusiasts.

Wine Futures

Why not give a gift that will last for years? Bordeaux Futures are the most established of all wine investments, allowing single or multiple cases to be reserved for individual buyers, long before the wine is bottled or the grapes are harvested. French wine futures are known to pay off tremendously, as the quality of each year and season is established, some vintages see their prices skyrocketing, or entire batches snatched up by collectors.

You can’t get more elegant than knowing that a fine French case that will increase in value and enjoyment is yours to cherish. Some bottles need up to 30 years to reach their maximum potential and taste – wine futures make a thoughtful, sophisticated gift for a college grad or newly married couple.

Get into the spirit with some vino-themed gifts for the wine lovers in your life. With all the dinners and parties, you’re sure to pop open a bottle or two in celebration. This list brings together some of the newest, and most colorful wine accessories on the market – nothing stuffy or overpriced, just red, green and gold.

A Colorful Wine Weaver Wine Aerator

This wine aerator comes in four jewel-toned colors, including ruby red and emerald green. Wine aerators help bring out the flavors and mellow the tannins in your favorite bottles, without needing to decant a bottle hour ahead of time.

The Wine Weaver is uniquely versatile in that you can adjust the settings for a full bottle, or a single glass pour. Buy one in each of the Christmas colors, and wow your party guests with 32 streams of wine flowing alone the sides of their glass. This aerator is made of sturdy polycarbonate and dishwasher safe, so it’s sure to last well beyond the holiday season.

Cranberry Glass

Also known as Gold Ruby glass, cranberry glass is created when gold chloride is added to molten glass, creating a range of dazzling hues from bright ruby red, to watered, berry-blush. Cranberry glass is often used in decanters, wine glasses and candy dishes – check out your local antique store or salvation army for festive, meaningful pieces that don’t break your holiday budget. Ruby red wine glasses make a huge statement on a festive table, one your guests won’t soon forget.

Green Label Rieslings

Deinhard Green Label Riesling is a well-rated, sweet German white wine with lots of fruit and citrus notes. Riesling is a holiday favorite thanks to it’s easy to drink, young taste without the hints of oak that often turn off occasional wine drinkers. The best part, this wine usually retails for $10-$12 per bottle – make it your green hostess gift with a red ribbon this season and make a sophisticated statement.

Festive Wine Glass Charms

Available online or at your local wine vendor, these tiny wire charms help your friends and family claim their wine glasses while adding a pop of festive color and design to their glasses. Look for Christmas tree, stars, Santa’s and wrapped presents among the holiday charm designs, or make your own using twist ties or elastics with festive gift tags. Stay organized by literally charming your guests.

For festive gifts and more information on the science of wine aeration, see www.wineweaver.com

It’s common wisdom that red wine needs to breathe before the tannins mellow and the flavours round out. But did you know that white wine benefits much more than expected from aeration? A young white wine can be tart, or nearly flavourless if served too cold, or straight from the bottle. Many vineyards and wine tastings routinely decant or aerate their whites to soften the flavours and bring out the buttery soft and citrus notes that white wine lovers enjoy.

For the average wine drinker, aerating wine can seem a bit pretentious or extreme, but with the introduction of inexpensive aerators, this concept can be put to the test in minutes, not hours. You’ve seen people swirling their glasses around at restaurants, and you may have wondered what all the drama was about – it’s all about the same thing – air.

What is an Aerator?

Wine Aerators are relatively new devices in the must-have wine accessory category, competing with vacuum sealers and designer stoppers for the most requested gift items of 2010. These devices either bubble or stream air through the wine as it’s being poured directly into the glass, eliminating the need for decanters and carafes. They can be found in glass or polycarbonate/acrylic models, in jewel tones or clear minimalist designs. Aerators start around $30, and usually come with attractive fabric cases or stands to complement your home bar.

Tannins

Because white wine spends less time with the skins, stems and seeds of the grape, it is generally less tannic – the substance that causes that bitter-dry-pucker sensation in your mouth. But fewer tannins don’t mean zero tannins – white wine does need to air. If you’ve ever noticed that the last glass of the bottle tastes better than the first, you’ve already experienced this truth without knowing why.

White wines, like dry white Burgundies and white Bordeaux, Alsace whites, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc… all benefit from a little oxidization. Even sweet wines like Gewürztraminer and Reisling meld and mellow with a good amount of air.

Holiday Taste Test

This holiday season, take your favourite bottle of white, and serve a glass through an aerator, and one directly through the bottle. This is a great game to play with your friends and relatives, many have never seen an aerator before and will be completely dazzled by the difference in wines they’ve been drinking for years. Aeration makes good wines great, and great wines fabulous.

For more on white wine and wine aerators visit Wine Weaver.

Oxidization or aeration is the process of mixing oxygen into a freshly opened bottle of wine. This process ensures that flavours and essential oils meld together, mellowing and rounding out any harsh or tart elements in younger wines. Traditionally, this was done by decanting a bottle into a wide bottomed vessel and leaving it to air for several hours. Thankfully, a new gadget has come on the market that decreases the time needed to mellow your glass or bottle of wine, in minutes, not hours – this is a wine aerator.

Vineyards and restaurants have adopted the gadgets wholeheartedly – they’re often pulled out at wine tastings, where many bottles need to be served at once. Aerators run around the $30 mark, with polycarbonate and glass options, in a variety of designs and styles. Aerators work in several ways, some with single chambers that “bubble” the air into the wine, others separate the liquid into streams, increasing air contact as the wine pours through and along the sides of the glass or carafe. The main culprit in the tart or strong flavors in your favorite red are tannins.

Tannins are “flavinoids” in wine that have that bitter, mouth drying sensation. Tannins come from grape skins, stems and seeds, which is why red wines have more tannin than whites – the skins give the wine its dark colour. Tannins are also added by contact with oak or other woods in the wine barrels themselves, though to a much lesser degree. Since tannins have antioxidant properties, they play a key role in the ageing process of wines. As red wines mature, the tannins accumulate together and settle to the bottom of the bottles in a light film of sediment. (This is why you should always watch that last glass of red…the sediment can be very bitter)

Maceration time has a huge impact on the amount of tannin in your wine, and different varieties are known for their heavy tannic properties when young. Wines made from Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are known to have stronger tannins, like Bordeaux, Barolo and Port. Italian wines and French wines from Burgundy have less tannin, as do Pino Noirs, Roijas and Beaujolais. Regardless of your preference, most young reds will benefit from a swirl through your favourite aerator – whether it’s a bubbler or a streamer. An added bonus to aeration – you can keep that bottle longer, enjoying a single glass at a time instead of decanting an entire bottle.

For more on red wine and wine aerators visit Wine Weaver.

If you enjoy a few glasses of wine in the evening, and have the good sense not to indulge in the whole bottle, then there are a few tools on the market that will make your wine experience smoother, easier and less expensive. You can make a single bottle last over several days, with a few high tech and low cost tools.

We all know that wine needs to breathe in order to release the flavors and smooth the rough edges. Red wines especially benefit from contact with the air, some needing several hours in contact with air to properly oxidize and mature.

Wine Aerator
Usually, the best glass from a bottle is the last, thanks to the effects of breathing- if you use an aerator, you can get that fully aired taste in seconds by maximizing your wines contact with air right out of the bottle. Many aerators are calibrated to help tame the tannins in single glasses. Simply pour and enjoy.

Wine Vacuum
Remove the air from your opened bottle and instantly return it to its near-pristine state – you can easily preserve a bottle for enjoyment over a period of days, saving dollars and cents over the year.

Preserving Spray
Serving a similar function to the vacuum, wine preserving sprays leave a cloud of inert gas on top of the liquid in your bottle, pushing the lighter weight air out and preventing further contact with oxygen to prolong the life of your wine.

Proper Glasses
Yes, the glass shape does matter – look for Burgundy or Bordeaux size glasses for reds, these generally have wider bowls to increase surface area interaction with the air, and to better. Glasses for white are generally more petite.

Weekday Wines
A common trend in wine lovers is to cultivate the art of the “weekday wine.” Over time, you’ll come to know and love a few trusted vineyards and can incorporate larger purchases into your budget. Buying wine by the case is an excellent way to stretch your vino budget. You’ll often receive the equivalent of one free bottle with each case of 12. Even if you only buy 3-4 cases per year, that extra savings can be put towards a few exceptional bottles for special occasions.

It’s good for you
Studies have shown that a glass of wine a day can do wonders for your health, so enjoy your nightly glass of wine guilt-free.

For more on Wine Accessories and Wine Aerators, visit Wine Weaver.

Red wines take longer to open up or “breathe” than white or blush varieties. This can mean hours in a traditional decanter for maximum drinkability. The darker the wine, the longer it may need to air. You can save yourself some valuable time by using a wine aerator to tame the tannins that can pucker your cheeks and make a wonderful wine taste awful when it’s first out of the bottle.

What are Tannins?
Tannins are organic compounds that are found naturally in grape seeds, skins and stems. They add part of the complex flavor of wine, often causing a tart or puckering sensation on the tongue at the back of the mouth. Wine makers use specific extraction processes to control the amount of tannins present in each specific variety of wine.

Tannin is controlled by the amount of time the juice is in contact with skins, seeds and stems, and is responsible for the sediment sometimes found in heavier bottles of red. The time ageing in the barrel also contributes to the distribution of tannins, as the oak itself contributes to the overall tannin level.

Tannins are essential to wine’s ageing process –the anti-oxidant properties allow wines to develop complexity and character while maintaining their integrity and drinkability.

The puckery sensation sometimes accompanied by a bitter aftertaste is described as “tannic”. The astringent, bitter sensation can be unpleasant to new wine drinkers. Recent efforts to control “hard” tannins while allowing “soft” tannins to remain has revolutionized the California wine industry, by allowing younger vintages to achieve a complexity that wasn’t before possible.

By the Glass

If you like to enjoy your full-bodied red wine by the glass, without decanting an entire bottle, you may benefit from a versatile aerator like the Wine Weaver – it can change settings from bottle to glass, and aerates in seconds. This particular model is notable as it makes it’s aerators from several jewel-tones polycarbonate plastics, as opposed to the higher-priced glass aerators which are known to chip and crack.

If you are concerned about tannin sediment or under-aerating your wine, you may wish to examine the color through the bottle. The very darkest of wines may benefit from both double aeration, though in most cases one use of a well-constructed aerator should be sufficient. Sediment generally collects at the bottom of the bottle, so the final glass will need to be watched as it’s poured.

To learn more about the benefits of oxygenating your wine, or to browse a selection of wine glass and bottle aerators, visit WineWeaver.com

Wine Weaver

A wine tasting party is a great, casual holiday party for tons of interactive fun. Ask your guests to bring a favorite bottle from your local region. Try mailing a handwritten note 6 weeks ahead of time if you’re planning on hosting a holiday party –there is a lot of competition for your guest’s time around November and December, get your event in their calendar before it fills up!

Essential Wine Tasting Party Supplies:

A Wine Aerator
Wine needs to breathe, and you’ll want to aerate each bottle as you open it. Minerals, oils and aromatics are released as you pour the wine through these little circulating gadgets. The oxygen calms and mellows the flavors immediately. Without an aerator, some darker wines take up to 4 hours to properly breathe – you won’t want to make your guests wait hours for their wines to be ready to serve.

A lot of glasses!
You may want to hit the dollar store or your local salvation army – you’ll want about 5 glasses per guest – don’t worry if they don’t all match, you’re having a casual night, and a table full of shining mismatched glasses is a charming sight.

A Large White Tablecloth
Set up your tasting area on your largest table, with a bright clean white cloth underneath.

Small Notebooks and Pens
You’ll want one notebook per guest, they can write down their impressions and ideas in the notebook and take it home as special keepsake.

Cardboard Place Cards and Markers
Label each bottle on the table by placing a large neat card in front of it, that way, your guests can make notes without picking up every bottle individually. This will save a lot of confusion, (and potentially spilled wine!)

Hors d’oeuvres and Snacks
The usual wine-tasting fare is French inspired, rich and flavorful – cheeses, meats, olives and other finger foods should be passed around liberally. All that drinking is bound to make your guests hungry.

Prizes!
You’ll want to purchase a few small gifts for the guests that bring the highest-ranking wines. Wine aerators, vacuum pumps and stylish wine carriers are wonderful for this purpose.

Dessert, and a few more bottles of wine!
Once the tasting is over, pop open a few more bottles and serve up a feast of seasonal sweets. Now that the hard part is over, it’s time to relax and enjoy your guests.
For more on wine accessories and wine aerators visit Wine Weaver.

As the must have wine accessory of 2010, many people are asking if wine aerators actually work, or if they’re a passing fad.

Wine Aerator

The short answer: They work. Vineyards and sommeliers have been using wine aerating devices and gadgets at wine tastings since they arrived on the scene, because they understand the basic science of wine aeration or decanting: to reach it’s ideal flavor, and to meld the aromatic properties in a freshly opened bottle of wine, wine needs to breathe.

Most wines have some level of tannin, an antioxidant chemical that occurs naturally in the winemaking process from the stems, seeds and skins of the grape, as well as the barrels. The darker the wine, the more contact it has had with these elements in the process, and the more it will need to age, or air to fully assimilate the best aspects of its ingredients.

Tannins are easy to recognize, they make the pucker in your mouth when drinking wine, and sometimes leave a bitter or astringent feeling in the mouth.

To properly meld and develop the flavors in a bottle of wine, you can decant or aerate. Since some darker wines require hours to properly aerate in a traditional wide mouth decanter, aerators have become to go-to tool for an instantly drinkable glass of wine, straight from the bottle.

Aerators maximize contact with air as you pour the wine from the bottle. Many aerators have been introduced to the market, the best being constructed out of sturdy plastics with multiple channels for the wine to contact air on the way to the vessel.

Many models are specialized for single types of wine – red, white, single glass…etc. Others have taken the process and refined it, releasing multi-function models that can adapt to pour a single glass or an entire bottle at once.

Wine Weaver is a good example of a versatile, multi-use device – with more than 30 precision cut air streams, the wine is separated in the device, and streamed to the sides of the glass or vessel to complete the contact with air.

Other aerators also perform similar action, but so far, only the Wine Weaver can be set to work with either a glass or sit atop a decanter. Handheld acrylic and polycarbonate competitors are useful, but they need to be held above the glass at all times, a little cumbersome when hosting a party, or pouring several glasses at once.

Whichever model you choose, an aerator is the must have wine accessory this holiday season.

A wine aerator is a device that sits above a decanter or glass, allowing the maximum amount of air to flow through the liquid as it’s poured. In the past five years, many models of aerator have been introduced to the market, giving wine lovers a number of options for enjoying their younger wines by the glass, or by the bottle, hours earlier than they could with decanting alone.

Why aerate wine?

Most full-bodied reds require time to “breathe” in order for the flavors to mellow and blend for an ideal drinkable state. In fact, most wines under 15 years will benefit from aeration – this is why we often think the last glass out of a bottle tastes better than the first. Simply uncorking a bottle and allowing it to stand will not sufficiently aerate the wine – it needs more of the surface area of the wine exposed to get enough contact with air.

Do all wines need aeration?

Not all. The oldest and palest vintages should be enjoyed after only minutes out of the bottle – as they’ve reached their peak flavor in storage.

But, as most of us are not storing our wine bottles for years, or buying vintage cases at auction, our preferred brands will likely benefit from the use of an aerator or 30-90 minutes in a wide bottom decanter.

What kind of wine aerator should you buy?

That depends. Many models are for reds or whites only. Others have single uses, either by the glass or bottle. An ideal choice for wine lovers new to aeration is a multi-function aerator that can switch from bottle to glass.

Glass or Polycarbonate?

Several popular glass models are available on the market, but the lesser-known polycarbonate options are more practical in terms of longevity and functionality. The Wine Weaver is a fun, polycarbonate choice – it comes in a number of jewel tones and is engineered to allow maximum airflow by releasing the wine in small streams along the sides of the glass or decanter.

Prolong the Life of your Bottle

A word of caution: too much air can be a bad thing for your wine. Pair your wine aerator with a vacuum pump if you like enjoy the same bottle over several days. There’s nothing worse than having to throw out a half bottle of great wine that has been spoiled by resealing too much air in the bottle.

A great gift

Wine aerators are high on the must-have gift list for wine lovers for this Christmas. Give them as hostess gifts and you’ll be a big hit at this season’s holiday parties, where more than one great bottle of wine is sure to be served.

Pour-through wine aerators are a relatively new addition to the wine accessory world, and the reviews are unanimous: they work.

They are especially useful for the average wine drinker who buys wine off the shelf, for consumption within a few weeks or months.

Aerator for Wine

Most retail wine sellers don’t stock ripe vintages, opting instead for more affordable reds and whites from the previous 5-10 years. These wines are wonderful, high-quality options if you follow the cardinal rule of wine: Let it breathe.

Have you noticed that the last glass poured from a bottle tastes better than the first? That’s not the alcohol confusing your taste buds, it’s the oxygen improving the wine over time. Amazing wines can be ruined by drinking them too soon out of the bottle, your $15-$20 bottle needs a little TLC to live up to its price.

New reds especially need air to ripen and allow the flavours to meld. As oxygen flows through the wine, the harshest elements are burned off, leaving a smoother, well-rounded taste.

Young whites also benefit from air, as they can come out of the bottle tart or overly tangy.

There are two preferred ways to allow your wine to breathe – decant or aerate.

Decanting
Decanting was originally introduced to allow wine sediment to settle to the bottom of a vessel, and is largely used for deep, complex reds. Today, sediment is hardly an issue with wines, normally you can see through the bottle if decanting is necessary. The average rich red wine needs a minimum of an hour to breathe in a wide vessel. Many wine lovers don’t have this kind of time, especially when entertaining and serving several bottles over the course of a dinner or party.

Aerating
For wine drinkers who like to enjoy single glasses, or a number of different wines in an evening, a wine aerator is the must-have gadget to ensure maximum enjoyment. Available in single glass or bottle sizes, (some wine aerators are versatile enough to do both) aerators sit between the glass or vessel, separating wine as it’s poured from the bottle into streams to allow maximum airflow in seconds, not hours.

Great for Parties

As well as being practical, wine aerators are fun to show off to guests. The next time you throw a party, make a point of pouring a glass through an aerator, and let your guests try both the oxygenated wine and the wine straight from the bottle. Most average drinkers can’t believe the difference in taste. You’ll be the host of the season, and establish yourself as a true aficionado.